INTRODUCTION. 



Our knowledge of the insect fauna of northern and arctic Canada has 

 hitherto been so meagre, and our collections so lacking in material from that 

 region that the invitation given me in 1913 by the Deputy Minister of Mines 

 to prepare a memorandum of instructions concerning the collection of insects 

 by the Canadian Arctic Expedition which was then being organized was more 

 than welcome, and high hopes were entertained that a rich harvest would result. 

 The sad and untimely death of Mr. James Murray, the marine biologist of the 

 expedition, following the loss of the Karluk, placed upon the shoulders of Mr. 

 Frits Johansen, to whom the entomological work had been assigned, a double 

 burden and increased duties and he became responsible for the marine biology in 

 addition to his botanical and entomological work. The large collections of 

 marine and other invertebrates, fishes, and plants testify as to the assiduity with 

 which Mr. Johansen collected. But, as was inevitable the number of insects 

 collected was less than we had originally hoped to receive. Nevertheless, the 

 collection of insects brought back by the expedition was a very representative 

 one, and, as the succeeding reports will show, it has been the means of adding 

 valuable information to our knowledge of the insects of the northern regions of 

 this continent. No less than 8 new genera, 93 new species and 5 new sub- 

 species and varieties have been described in the following pages. In addition, 

 as a result of Mr. Johansen's keen desire to obtain notes on the life-histories and 

 bionomics of these northern forms and the investigations that he carried on 

 under the difficult conditions incident to such work in the north, he has been 

 able to add much to our knowledge of northern insect life, and his notes will be 

 found scattered through the reports in the different orders and families. Mr. 

 Johansen's report on the insect life of the arctic will be read with interest in 

 conjunction with the other reports,, since it gives a picture of the conditions 

 under which the insects were found; too often entomologists lose sight of the 

 ecological aspect of an insect fauna, and reports become mere systematic cata- 

 logues and lifeless. The abundance and variety of the arctic and sub-arctic 

 insect life will be surprising perhaps to many entomologists who have not hitherto 

 appreciated the burst of plant and insect life that takes place during the short 

 arctic summer when the land is clothed with vegetation and flowers which are 

 visited by innumerable bumble bees, moths and butterflies and other sun-loving 

 insects, enjoying the brief spell of existence that release from the gelid land and 

 water permits. 



We desire to express our warm appreciation of the assistance so willingly 

 rendered by the authors whose names appear on the different reports in this 

 volume in working up this interesting collection of the insects of the arctic and 

 sub-arctic region of North America, and we hope that this volume may stimulate 

 further investigation of a fauna of interest alike to the systematist and to those 

 who are interested in the broader question of the distribution of animal life. 



C. GORDON HEWITT, 



Dominion Entomologist. 

 OTTAWA, January, 1920. 



